


Time Stop

by jakia



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: First Meeting, Gen, M/M, essek stopping time just to look at the mighty nein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 13:11:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19746436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakia/pseuds/jakia
Summary: Essek meets the Mighty Nein in the Bright Queen’s hall just before they give her the Beacon, and they have no idea thanks to time magic. [hints of Shadowgast, but just barely.]





	Time Stop

**Author's Note:**

> Extra liberties taken with the Time Stop spell but I imagine choosing dunamancy as your specialty gives you a little more than 6 seconds.

“The Empire is working against you! _Wildemont_ is working against you, we have brought the proof if you will allow me to show it to you,” the red haired human, dressed as a slave, pleaded with the Bright Queen. “I need to approach my friend. I mean no harm, I just need to remove something from–”

The room got quiet as the guard looked to the Queen, who nodded cautiously. “You have a moment. Anything strange, and I cut off your head,” One of the Queen’s guards threatened, his sword at the ready.

“Jester, I am coming towards you. I am just going to open this bag–”

There could be anything in that bag, Essek knew. An explosion. A spell. An artifact that could summon a magnificent demon whose sole desire was to eliminate the Queen. And with the Queen, the Council, so many others gathered here in the hall, it was the perfect opportunity for the Empire to strike and take a great deal of their most important people with them. Time was a luxury they did not have.

Or at least, that would be true, except that time was Essek’s specialty.

With a mere glance from the Bright Queen, Essek knew immediately what his orders were. _Access the threat. Disarm them if needed._

A simple enough task, even if it did require him to burn his only 9th level cast for the day. It was worth it, however, to protect the Dynasty, and to protect his queen.

With a snap of his fingers and the command word spoken, time stopped in the Bright Queen’s throne room for everyone except Essek Thelyss. With the world frozen in place, Essek moved like a ghost down to investigate the strangers who stood perfectly still, frozen in time in his lady’s court.

Honestly, they were not the most impressive mercenaries to ever step foot in the hall. He investigated the human first–the other one, the blue one, not the one currently digging through a backpack, although he’d get to him in a moment–and found he wasn’t too concerned. She was no wizard, and she wore no armor, and almost no weapons outside of a few kunai and a stick. It wasn’t even a magic stick. He had no doubt she could do some damage with it–he knew enough to know the damage those trained in monastic traditions could do–but it was nothing the guards surrounding her couldn’t handle.

Next, he turned his attention to the half-orc, and came to a similar conclusion. He was a bard, Essek thought, or maybe a warlock of some kind? He wasn’t a sorcerer, although he was handsome enough to be one. But he didn’t have the spell components on him that most wizards and sorcerers did, and he lacked a holy symbol. He also didn’t have a weapon on him. So he must be a bard, then.

The blue tiefling was tricky–he thought she was a ranger at first, given the dog and the weasel she carried. Strange animal companions, but animal companions nonetheless. It took some searching, but he did find her holy symbol, hanging off her waist on her belt, although he didn’t recognize the emblem. He would move a few of the guards closer to her. The last thing they needed was an errant spellcaster on the loose.

The goblin carried a rather impressive crossbow, but like the monk, it was nothing the guards couldn’t handle. Honestly, in Essek’s opinion, the two biggest threats were the two quiet ones in the back–the aasimar and the firbolg were both armed with magical weapons and seemed at least capable of a good fight. Luckily, they were also the ones who were surrounded by the largest number of guards, so Essek felt good about their chances.

Which left only the other human. The one with his hands in the backpack, pulling something out.

“Let’s see what you are hiding then, shall we?” Essek said to no one in particular, the room still frozen around him.

He was filthy; dressed and bound like a slave, with dirt and mud caked on his face and his clothing. It would be easy to underestimate him, and Essek wondered if that wasn’t part of the act: pretend to be helpless, pretend to be useless, and then no one would see the knife headed for your back. It was a clever ruse, one Essek had used himself when he needed to. But despite the dirt and the raggedy clothing, Essek would even go so far as to describe the human as _handsome_ –beneath the layer of filth there were piercing blue eyes, a rugged jaw, copper colored hair. Standing before the Bright Queen, he was a curious juxtaposition: a madman or a prophet, something holy and sacred and crazed, all at the same time. There was something wild and almost faelike about the man: the brown flecks of darkened skin on his cheeks, the arcane scars that ran down his arms…the half-orc man had been handsome, yes, but this man was _different_. This man was a _curiosity_ , and Essek? 

Well, he loved a good mystery.

It didn’t take him long to find the spell book, and the spell components. The spellbook wouldn’t open, of course, a simple protection any wizard worth their salt would do, so Essek had no way of knowing just _what_ the wizard knew, but at least now he knew what the man was. Like him, in a way, but his opposite: the man was born and bred of the Empire and their kin, while Essek was a loyal servant of the Dynasty. In a different life, they’d have met on the battlefield. Hell, depending on what the man was holding on to, they still might.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to kill him. But that all depended on what was in the bag.

Which was–

 _Oh_.

It was a Beacon. Not just any beacon–one of the Luxon’s beacon, the body of the god Essek worshiped. And it was here, in Rosana, in a _bright pink backpack_ , of all things! Being carried by _humans!_

What were their plans with it? Were they going to give it up? Threaten to destroy it? Did they, too, worship the Luxon, and if so, had they traveled here to deliver it? If so, why not _start_ with that, instead of gaining the trust of Den Mother Olios first? And if they didn’t worship the Luxon, then did they have any idea just what it was, exactly, that they held?

“Congratulations,” Essek whispered in the wizard’s ear. This close, the man smelled of smoke and sweat; earthy and warm and slightly alluring. He would not remember what Essek said–no one ever did. It was the flaw of stopping time: when time resumed, it would be as if Essek hadn’t moved at all. “You just became the most fascinating man in the Dynasty.”

He would have to keep a close eye on the group at large; perhaps, if the next few moments went well, he’d volunteer to watch them for his queen. But in particular, he needed to watch the red haired wizard

As the last few seconds of his spell began to fade, Essek made his way back to the Bright Queen’s side, and watched as hesitant curiosity gave way to awe–like everyone around him–at what the group known as the Mighty Nein would do next.


End file.
